--- Rich Blinne <richblinne@hotmail.com> wrote:
>
(SNIP)
> If we are talking about a 20-30 yr. gap, there are
> stop gaps available to
> us. Our current mix of electric generation is
> predominately natural gas,
> coal, and fission. Now I am not as up on the
> exploration angle to know
> whether there is a similar problem with natural gas
> (see below) as there is
> for oil, but there is not a similar problem for coal
> expecially if you only
> have to limp along for thirty years. While natural
> gas "peaker" plants can
> be turned on and off to match peak demand, coal and
> nuclear plants are
> required to have what is known as spinning reserve,
> basically wasting energy
> at night. While clearly this does not have the size
> of reserves a fusion
> plant would heve, nevertheless it can be used to
> store the energy in a
> convenient chemical form be it H2, CH4, or charging
> batteries.

What folks are missing here in the energy issue is
that known reserves of fissionable materials (assuming
the construction of new plants), can meet world
electricity (not auto fuel, etc.) needs for at least
200-300 years (if there was a total switch over right
now -- which there obviously couldn't be, so these
dates would stretch a bit longer) with an open fuel
cycle and 600-800 years with a closed fuel cycle and
reprocessing. There are many studies that suggest
these kinds of time frames. Euratom, the EU, etc.
have done estimates. Of course, public misconceptions
of fission don't help.